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Freedom Action of the Week
Email List Archive
Free-Market.Net's F r e e d o m A c t i o n o f t h e W e e k
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Edited by Thomas L. Knapp. To subscribe or unsubscribe to this and
other lists, click to: http://www.free-market.net/features/lists/
----- Featured Action of the Week -----
Third Week of November 2001:
Welcome to Homeland Security
This Thanksgiving bears some very real resemblances to the first one. No,
not the one you're thinking of, with Indians and Pilgrims sitting down
together for turkey and cranberry sauce. That's a nice story, but the real
first Thanksgiving, as it is now celebrated in the United States, was
decreed in 1863.
Depending on which side you were on in the War Between the States, 1863 was
either a very good or a very bad year. Actually, it held a quite a bit of
good and bad for both sides. 1863 was the year of Burnside's "mud march"
and ignominious defeats for the Union at Chancellorsville and Chickamauga;
it was the year that saw the introduction of conscription in the United
States. On the other hand, the Union prevailed at Gettysburg and opened the
Mississippi with the fall of Vicksburg to Grant. It was also the year of
the Emancipation Proclamation.
Over on the Confederate side, there was, likewise, a measure of victory and
of defeat. Following the brilliant defeats of Union forces at
Fredericksburg in late 1862, and the shattering of Hooker's offensive in
Chancellorsville, victory looked possible. But the failure of Lee's
invasion gambit at Gettysburg, and the separation of the Confederacy with
the fall of Vicksburg, were the eventual keys to the Confederacy's defeat.
There was a lot of death, and a lot of celebration, in 1863. On October
3rd, President Abraham Lincoln decreed that the last Thursday of November
would be a day to give thanks for the success of Union arms and of the
Union itself.
In 2001, we once again find ourselves in a year of death. This has not been
a good year for America or for the world. And, as in 1863, we find that the
exigencies of war often turn on and savage the Bill of Rights and the
liberties of people in the U.S. and around the world.
In 1863, Union General Ambrose Burnside took command of the Department of
the Ohio. His mission was to suppress Confederate sympathies, and he did so
without remorse, suspending habeas corpus and, operating under "General
Orders No. 38," detaining individuals suspected of disloyalty to the Union.
This continued a disturbing trend of that war, and presaged the
circumstances we now face.
But Thanksgiving is a day for celebration, and I know that all of you are
getting ready for your Bill of Rights Day parties on December 15th. I'm
going to use this week's column to support that while still reflecting the
situation we're in.
Kent van Cleave, one of our great libertarian "viral marketers," has
created a set of posters that reflect back to anti-freedom efforts of the
past, including those I've described above. His ironic and disturbing
interpretations are a harsh comment on the violations of civil liberties
that we've faced before and face now in the name of "homeland security."
This weekend, after you're over the bloat of a huge dinner and done
watching the football game, why not put some of these posters up in
convenient, high traffic areas? Better yet, just take my word on the
football: Denver over Dallas 42-14 and Green Bay whips Detroit 28-7. Get
out for a walk, and hang some agitprop while you're at it.
Even better, why not use them as the flip side of invitations to your Bill
of Rights Day party?
In the war of ideas, a picture is worth a thousand words. Kent has produced
some astounding pictures for us to use in the months to come. Let's express
our thankfulness for freedom by fighting to protect it.
Kent van Cleave's "Welcome to Homeland Security!:
http://welcome.to/HomelandSecurity/
Action of the Week Archive:
http://www.free-market.net/features/list-archives/activism/maillist.html
----- Alternate Actions -----
The Freedom Action of the Week Club: Commit yourself to doing one
action per week. If the action above doesn't appeal to you, consider
one of the alternate actions at:
http://www.free-market.net/features/action/
If you know about another action or organize one of your own, e-mail
Tom at tlknapp@free-market.net so we can tell the rest of the group
next week.
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